the office of his uncle, the proprietor of the Hastings and St. Leonards Gazette. He left for New Zealand with the Non-conformist special settlers in 1862, intending to settle upon the land, but on arrival at Auckland the vessel was boarded by a representative of the Daily Southern Cross in search of compositors, and Mr. Brett was persuaded to accept an engagement on that paper. Shortly afterwards he joined the reporting staff of the New Zealand Herald and maintained his connection with that journal till 1870, when for the sum of £90 he acquired a third interest in the Evening Star, which had been recently started by Mr. G. M. Reid, and was then in a struggling condition. By the infusion of additional energy, and the employment of carrier pigeons to supply the want of telegraphs in those days—this being one of the most successful innovations in journalism introduced by Mr. Brett—the Star forged ahead and extinguished its evening rival. In Feb. 1876, Mr. Reid disposed of his interest to Mr. Brett, the share of the third partner having previously been acquired by the firm, Mr. Brett thus becoming sole proprietor. He has since disposed of a partnership interest to Mr. T. W. Leys, who succeeded Mr. Reid in the editorship of the paper, which is commonly reported to have the largest circulation in New Zealand. The second publishing venture of the firm was the Auckland Almanack and Provincial Handbook, started in 1872; and they have also established the New Zealand Farmer and Bee and Poultry Journal, a monthly agricultural magazine, and more recently the New Zealand Graphic, Mr. Brett, who is a director of the New Zealand Press Association and President of the Auckland Choral Society, occupied a seat in the Auckland City Council from 1874 to 1878, and in the latter year, without a contest, was chosen Mayor.
Bride, Thomas Francis, LL.D., was born at Cork, Ireland, in 1851, and went to Victoria at three years of age. He graduated at Melbourne University in 1873. In the same year he was appointed Assistant Librarian of the University, and later Assistant Registrar, both of which positions he held until August 1881, when he was appointed Librarian of the Melbourne Public Library. In 1879 Dr. Bride took the degree of Doctor of Laws, being the third who achieved that distinction at the Melbourne University. In Feb. 1880 he unsuccessfully contested North Melbourne in the Conservative interest.
Brierly, Sir Oswald Walters, R.W.S., F.R.G.S., marine painter to the Queen since 1874, is the son of the late Thomas Brierly, and was born at Chester in 1817. He was on board H.M.S. Rattlesnake during her surveys of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the Louisiade Archipelago, and part of New Guinea. He visited New Zealand, Tongatabu, Tahiti, and many other places in the Meander; and has cruised in different parts of the world for eleven years on board various of her Majesty's ships, an island of the Louisiade and a point in Australia being named after him. Sir Oswald Brierly—as he became in 1885—was during the Russian war present at the operations with the fleet in the Baltic, Black Sea, and Sea of Azoff; he was also by command on board the royal yacht at the great naval review at the close of the Russian war to make sketches for the Queen. In 1867 he went with H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh in his voyage round the world in the Galatea, and his sketches of the cruise were exhibited at South Kensington. In 1868 he was attached to the suite of the Prince and Princess of Wales during their trip up the Nile. He has painted many important historical marine pictures, the principal of which have been engraved. He has been awarded the fourth class Medjidie, fourth class Osmanieh, and the Turkish war medal, and is an Officer of the Redeemer of Greece. He was formerly a J.P. for New South Wales, and is at present Curator of the Painted Hall, Greenwich.
Bright, Charles Edward, C.M.G., J.P., belongs to an old Worcestershire family possessing estates in the counties of Worcester and Hereford, and is the fifth son of the late Robert Bright, of Bristol and Abbots Leigh, Somerset, by Caroline, daughter of Thomas Tyndall, of The Fort, Bristol. Mr. Bright is brother to Richard Bright, who was elected M.P. for East Somerset in 1868, and to Lieut.-General Sir Robert Onesiphorus Bright, K.C.B. He emigrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in Jan. 1854; and is a partner in the firms of Messrs. Antony Gibbs & Co. and Messrs. Gibbs,
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